Princeton Engineering is rapidly enhancing its ability to address major societal needs in the areas of health, energy, the environment and security, and to prepare leaders for this technological world. Princeton University set the cornerstone for this growth on Nov. 9 with the launch of its fundraising campaign, named "Aspire: A Plan for
Princeton." Of the $1.75 billion goal, $325 million is planned to support initiatives related to "Engineering and a Sustainable Society."

At the campaign kick-off, Princeton faculty members and alumni discussed
the future of the Internet and climate change; I hope it was the first of many conversations about our initiatives and how they can benefit society.

We're in good hands for this campaign -- Don Dixon '69 is overseeing the "Engineering and a Sustainable Society" effort. He recently spoke
with EQuad News
about the campaign, his experiences at Princeton and how you can get involved. His words say it all: These are exciting times and Princeton Engineering is a place where great things can happen.

I'll look forward to sharing good news with you as the
campaign progresses.

A new technique for printing extraordinarily thin lines
quickly over wide areas could lead to larger, less expensive and more
versatile electronic displays as well new medical devices, sensors and
other technologies.

Solving a fundamental and long-standing quandary, chemical
engineers at Princeton developed a method for shooting stable jets of
electrically charged liquids from a wide nozzle. The technique, which
produced lines just 100 nanometers wide (about one ten-thousandth of a
millimeter), offers at least 10 times better resolution than ink-jet
printing and far more speed and ease than conventional nanotechnology.

Bypassing decades-old conventions in making computer chips,
Princeton engineers developed a novel way to replace silicon with
carbon on large surfaces, clearing the way for new generations of
faster, more powerful cell phones, computers and other electronics.

The electronics industry has pushed the capabilities of
silicon -- the material at the heart of all computer chips -- to its
limit, and one intriguing replacement has been carbon, said Stephen
Chou, professor of electrical engineering. A material called graphene
-- a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice --
could allow electronics to process information and produce radio
transmissions 10 times better than silicon-based devices.

Beyond its role as the elixir of all life, water is a very
unusual substance: Scientists have long marveled over counter-intuitive
properties that set water apart from other solids and liquids commonly
found in nature.

That is why chemical engineer Pablo Debenedetti and
collaborators at three other institutions were surprised to find a
highly simplified model molecule that behaves in much the same way as
water, a discovery that upends long-held beliefs about what makes water
so special.

Courtland Perkins, a pioneer of modern aircraft stability and control, gifted teacher and international leader in the field of engineering, died Jan. 6. He was 95.

Perkins joined the Princeton faculty in 1945 as part of a fledgling aeronautical engineering group and led the department in becoming the foremost in the nation in his quarter century as its chair. During leaves from Princeton and after retiring in 1978, Perkins served as chief scientist and undersecretary of the Air Force, chair of NATO's aerospace advisory group and president of the National Academy of Engineering.

Less than a week later, on Feb. 13, SRI International
President and CEO Curtis Carlson will explore "The
Journey from Invention to Innovation"
in the first event in this
year's Princeton-Jumpstart Lecture Series on Technology
Entrepreneurship.

The Center for Information Technology Policy will bring Walt Mossberg, the Wall Street Journal's "Personal Technology" columnist, to campus on Feb. 21 to give his thoughts on "The Next Stage of the Net and The Future of the Cell Phone"
in one of the highlight events in the center's busy spring schedule.

Entrepreneurial thinking is not just for start-up companies
and can be applied to all situations, according to Babson College
professor of entrepreneurship and public policy Julian Lange, which is
why he organized a five-workshop series in the fall semester on "Harnessing
the Power of Entrepreneurship."

Lange, who received his bachelor's degree in economics from
Princeton in 1965, currently is serving as the inaugural Dean's
Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship in Princeton's Center for
Innovation in Engineering Education. This semester, he is teaching a new
course on the management of high-growth entrepreneurial ventures
through a combination of case studies and experiential methods,
including a sophisticated international simulation exercise.

Princeton Engineering faculty and alumni recognized
at national and international level

Recent awards and honors presented to Princeton Engineering
faculty members include the Morningside Gold Medal of Applied
Mathematics, the IEEE Hamming Medal and the American Society of Civil
Engineers Francis C. Turner Award.

Among the latest accomplishments of alumni are a Lincoln
Laboratory Technical Excellence Award, the 2008 Japan Prize for
Information Communication Theory and Technology and a SciAm50 Award.

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